


Alcohol and Penguins

by ARTIMANE



Category: Atypical (TV 2017)
Genre: Abuse, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Angst, Cheating, Drinking, Eventual Smut, F/F, Fights, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21566569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARTIMANE/pseuds/ARTIMANE
Summary: Casey Gardner took an unexpected turn for the worse after a major tragedy in her family. she turns to alcohol as her support. Then once at a bar, she meets someone who is also going through some trauma. they both realize they're gonna change each other lives.Will it be for the better or for the worse?
Relationships: Casey Gardner/Izzie
Comments: 10
Kudos: 89





	1. Yoko Ono

**Author's Note:**

> first atypical fanfic. took a really dark turn with this one but I'm pretty confident in the plot I have planned out

“ _ I don’t wanna take from you, I don’t need an IOU-” _

Casey grabs another shot glass and chugs it down in like five seconds. The alcohol burns as it runs down her throat but she’s used to it. The burning sensation quickly disappears as she slams the cup down with a loud  _ clink _ disturbing the couple sitting next to her. She doesn't know how much she has drunken and honestly, she doesn’t want to know. Judging by the looks from the bartender its been a lot. Her head hurts like a bitch and the loud music isn’t helping at all. Around her are stranger’s drunkenly dancing next to other strangers. She assumes they’re drunk because no willingly sober would act like this. The atmosphere is filled with sadness and lust as people try to link up with others before the bar closes. Only for them to wake up in the morning alone and regretting everything.

“Imm just sayinnman, if she’d..ugh.. just leave me alone I would..hate her less...you know?” Casey aimlessly says slurring her words. The bartender just nods while wiping a glass with an old dirty rag. “Elsa or that chick you were talking to last week?” he asks. ” umm booth?” Honestly, Casey doesn’t even know. She’s just drunkenly ranting to a guy who knows nothing about her. There’s always a different bartender every two weeks and each one seems to care less what she’s even talking about than the last one. She was hoping for Derek, he’s usually halfway invested to what she’s saying. Instead, she got Drew. A big buff guy who could probably intimidate anyone. “Yeah fuck this I’m going to the bathroom,” Casey says while stumbling out of her chair almost tripping over one of her shot glasses. “Your gonna pay for these drinks Casey, no more of that “Put it on my tab” bull shit!” Drew yells as Casey walks to the bathroom. She clumsily flips him off while slamming the door open.

As the door opens the first thing she see’s is the same couple that was sitting next to her making out. “Get a godamn room” Casey doesn’t feel like being surrounded by PDA reminding her she would be forever single. “We are in a room,” the guy says. His skin is as pale as paper and he has this creepy-ass mustache. The girl he’s next to is supermodel material though. “C’mon let’s just go to my place,” she says while dragging him out the bathroom. He just smirks at her creepily as they leave. Casey just sticks her tongue out. Yeah, that might seem immature but she’s too drunk to care.

She drags herself to the sink and rinses her face. She keeps doing it until her eyes hurt. Until the water that’s streaming down her face isn’t just disgusting faucet water. Until her face turns as red as the sweater she’s wearing. A sweater that was picked out and bought no one other than Sam.

  
  
  
  
  
  


_ “Since when did you like shopping” Casey questions as she and her older brother walk into the store. _

_.  _

_ “Well, Paige and I are having a double date with you and Evan. After hours of research, I have come to the conclusion that being well-dressed influences the date greatly! Your clothes are too casual and that one tweed suit is too formal and would also make Paige mad. Making Paige mad would ruin everything because that’s the exact opposite of what I’m try-” “you really love her don’t you?” Casey says cutting him off. “Yes, but I also love you not interrupting me” Sam says irritated. “Well -“OW” - too bad,” Casey says while smacking him in the back of his head _

_ They searched through the whole store arguing about which would look good and which wouldn’t. Sam was getting frustrated with Casey because she wasn’t taking it seriously. Casey didn’t really care and just like annoying her brother. Sam finally had enough and told her to sit down while he would go look for something. _

_ “Just sit here and I’ll just look because apparently, you don’t care!” Sam yelled storming off. Casey plops in one of the chairs near the exit. “Apparently you don’t care,” Casey says mimicking him. She pulls out her phone and starts texting Evan. Twenty minutes later Sam comes back with the perfect sweater. Casey was surprised that they agreed on it. It was mostly because sam looked so excited when he showed her it but she would never admit that out loud. After the double date, she wore more then she could count.  _

  
  


After coating her face in the water she just stared into her own reflection. Dark bags are clearly evident under her eyes. Hair looked like she just got struck from lightning. Ever since the incident, Casey started not caring at all what she looked like. She wore the same clothes more then once a week if she never got down to washing them. She just didn’t care at all anymore.

A  _ click _ could be heard to her right and Casey turned her head around so fast she swears she got whiplash. Then a girl walked into the bathroom. Her raven hair sprawling out beautifully on her leather jacket. Wore a black skirt that ended just above her knee’s giving Casey a nice view of her leg. It might just be because she’s drunk but she swears she saw an angel. Her skin looked so smooth but on her face was a dark red scratch that reached from the middle of her cheek to her mouth. Yeesh, that looks like it hurt.

She walks to the sink not even glancing at Casey. Casey just stands there looking shocked. She’s never seen this girl before and she’s seen everyone in this bar. 

After the mystery girl finishes washing her hands she finally looks at Casey. She looks at her, smirks with a special glint in her eyes, and just walks out the door.

  
  


Casey just stares at the door for a few minutes in awe. There must be this magnetic pull because she’s following her out the door too. When she steps out she trys to look over the crowd of people but can’t find the mystery girl. Sighing in defeat she sits back down in her sea of shot glasses. Well, she doesn’t know why she got all excited, expecting the best gets you nowhere. She slams her head down on the table not caring if others are staring

She feels a small tap on her arm. Already pissed she pushes her head up ready to yell at some douchey frat boy but stops soon as she see’s who it is.

“Hey bathroom girl, the name is Izzie”


	2. Vixen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is Vixen by Miguel. awesome song suggests you check it out.

The music in the background can not be heard over Casey's overbearing thoughts. _Ah, what do I say to that? hey? Nah that's too casual like I don't even know her. Hi ...leather girl? no that's stupid, fuck. I'm too drunk for this. um, shit shit shit shi-_ "Um I'm sorry that came out weird, should I lea-"NO" Casey yells interrupting the raven-haired girl. She curses to herself when she sees the look of shock on the other's face. "I mean I'm sorry, I just didn't expect you to look for me" Casey admits with a sheepish grin. the mystery girl smiles and puts out her hand "it's cool, my name is Izzie"

Casey calms herself down and shakes her hand. A sudden wave of confidence hits her so she tries to test her luck." the name's Casey but my girlfriend calls me bathroom girl" Casey says trying to lower her voice a little. Casey doesn't know what she was expecting but she does blush when Izzie starts laughing like she just told the funniest joke ever. She tries to hide her face in embarrassment. she takes a note to never attempt flirting while drunk again. she only looks up when she hears Izzie's angelic voice. " okay that was terrible but adorable, you're lucky I like adorable," Izzie says with a smirk that turns Caseys face red. she can't help but chuckle a little at that, No on at this bar has been able to make her blush and trust me there has been a lot of failed attempts. "Well it's better than "bathroom girl", I think that's the 'shittiest' greeting I have ever heard. Casey stares at Izzie expectantly but after a few seconds, she hears that beautiful laugh again. God, she loves that laugh. she chuckles a little wondering how drunk Izzie must be to be enjoying her jokes.

After the laughter dies down Casey decides she needs to get to know this girl. "So how about I buy you a drink for putting up with my bad pick up line," Casey says pulling random idea's out of her mind. Izzie contemplates it for a sec but then shakes her head. "no drinks, I'm the designated driver" Izzie says with a sigh. "you're here with someone?" Casey asks trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice. Izzie must hear it cause she puts her head down slightly. "its... _really_ complicated." she says tensing up a bit. Casey wants to ask more about it but something about Izzie's expression says she shouldn't. she decides to change the subject. "so what do you do for fun" she asks with genuine curiosity in her voice. Izzie's faces light up at the innocent question. "I'm on my college's track team! we're the best in our state" she exclaims with excitement evident in her voice. Caseys sits up a bit, happy she found a subject to talk about. "Cool, I use to run track back in high school, not to brag but I was voted fastest in class!" Casey says with a smirk on her face. ah, she misses it when all she had to worry about was track and..her brother. the thought of him causes her to frown a little. Her stomach starts to ache a little. she tries to calm herself down because Izzie is staring at her with concern.

"What high school did you go to?" Izzie says trying to calm down Casey. "Newton" Casey says with a blank face. Izzie looks confused. "just... Newton?" Izzie asks with an eyebrow raised. Casey chuckles a bit. "Yeah the names pretty weird. whoever thought of "Newton Highschool" must have been drunk" Casey says with humor in her voice. Izzie laughs a little which makes Casey blush _again._ Damn this girl is adorable. Before Izzie can respond, an unfamiliar voice rings out behind them.

"Cmon Izzie this bar sucks were leaving". Casey turns around and is meet face to face with the guys she thought she would never see again. black hair slicked back with probably a gallon of gell. Cheekbones sticking out of his face that would probably make any girl fall for him. that punchable face that she should have hit a thousand times in high school. Damn, she hates his voice. _Nate._ The main reason for most of the bad shit that haunts her life. The main reason she drowning herself in alcohol. The main reason her brother is... _fuck._

Her anger must be clearly present on her face cause Izzie looks at her with concern. "You Alright Casey?" Izzie says completely ignoring Nate. Casey decides to stay silent cause she knows if she even lifts a finger she gonna kill Nate. she wants to kill Nate. _"Adelie, Chinstrap, Emperor, Gentoo. Adelie, Chinstrap, Emperor, Gentoo. Adelie, Chinstrap, Emperor, Gentoo"_ Casey repeats in her head. she biting her lip so hard that it draws blood. Izzie still ignoring Nate, puts a hand on her back. That must really tick him off because before I can respond he grabs her wrist. "I said _come on_ , what are you deaf" Nate says aggressively. Casey doesn't think Nate even recognizes her at all because he hasn't even glanced at her. Casey looks at Izzie's face and all she see's is distress. then she looks at the red cut she saw earlier and connect the dots. after a few seconds, all Casey sees is red. Drunk Casey and Angry Casey are not a good combination. She stands up and pushes Nate away from Izzie. he must have been really drunk cause he stumbles a little. Izzie looks at her mouthing _"stop"_ but Casey is paying no attention to her. she keeps her eyes on Nate.

"what the fuck is wrong with you" he says while struggling to get on his feet. Casey laughs with no humor in her voice. "oh, so you're saying you don't remember me at all _Nate"_ Casey says with venom dripping from her voice. Nate squints his eyes at her and then the realization hit him. "Ooh damn, long time no see Casey" he says with this smirk on his face that would probably intimidate anyone. judging by Izzie's face it scares the shit out of her. but not Casey. she's been through too much to be scared of him. Nate slowly walks to Casey clenching his fist with full-on intent of hitting her. before Casey could react Izzie moves in between the two.

"calm down Nate _please!"_ Izzie begs finally putting her attention on Nate. he just grabs her wrist and drags her behind him. "Stay out of this!" he yells. she takes the distraction and punches him square in the nose. all you could hear is a sickening _crack_ and Izzie screaming no. Nate stumbles back holding his nose. blood is running down in between his fingers. "FUCK" he screams out in pain. Casey reel back to hit him again but he tackles her to the ground pinning her arms down with his knees. she struggles to try to get him off but Nate pulls his arm back and punches her in the face. _Adelie._ Izzie runs over trying to pull him off but Nate doesn't stop. He just punching and punching. After the second punch, She heard a crack worse than the one she heard from Nate. _Chinstrap._ The third punch makes her vision all fuzzy. _Emperor_. all she hears is Izzie crying and Nate grunts after every punch. everything is blurry.

after the fourth punch, _Gent_ -. Everything turns black.


	3. PRIDE.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I have made a spotify playlist dedicated to this fanfic. It's called AAP soundtrack. I'll probably be adding more songs to it soon. I listen to it while writing for 1. The chapter titles and 2. The vibes the songs give.

_(Five years ago)_

_After school Sam came barging through the door with a bright envelope almost as bright as his smile. Today when he was at his locker a kid he's never talked to before came up to him._

_"Hey your Casey's brother right?" Sam was a little skeptical . The last person who approached him at his locker through his phone on the ground. That was not a nice day. He almost missed the live stream of his penguins egg pipping. "Yes I am" Sam said as He was closing his locker. The stranger just put his arm around Sam which first made him really nervous. Then He realized the pressure from his arm was strong. He likes strong pressure. "Well I'm nate and Casey is like one of my closest friends. I wanted to invite both of you to my party but she said she had to study." Nate finished with a exaggerated disappointed sigh. Normally Sam didn't like parties. It was too much noise and light. It was like sensory overload to the power of ten. But He was in the process of becoming a grown independent man! Grown independent men face there fears. "Well I already have the third best GPA in my class so don't have to study!" Sam explains with pride. He took the invitation from Nate and started walking to class._

_When he came home He walked in the kitchen looking for anyone to share his excitement with. Mom or "elsa" was making dinner. He still doesn't know what he is supposed to call her. Casey calls her elsa but Casey does a lot of questionable things. "Mom where's casey, I have big news!" Sam says pacing back and forth a little. " Oh I'm I think she's in her roo-"OK THANKS" Sam helped already halfway up the stairs._

_he finds her in her bed doing work. Papers were spread out around her while she was biting on her pencil._ _Casey looks up as soon as Sam steps through the door. "Get out of my roooom I'm studying" she groans while laying back. "No your not" Sam concludes. "Your just staring at your homework with a pencil in your mouth which by the way is disgusting"_

_Casey looks up at him with a mischievous going in her eyes. "I'm totally studying. We're actually reviewing angles and shit." She picks up a pillow. " See if I am this 90 degrees to my left" she pretends to concentrate while squinting her eyes. "Then BOOM" the pillow is sent flying towards Sam and hits him right in the head._

_"OW" Sam rubbing his eyes while Casey is holding her stomach laughing. "Be serious I have to tell you something" Sam says while crossing his arms. Casey pats down the space next to her on her bed. "C'mon little brother"_

_"But I'm older then you" he says while sitting down. Casey just shrugs with the same lazy smirk she's always had. Sam hands her the invitation and starts ranting about what happened. "He just came up to me asking if I was your brother and I said yes because why wouldn't I say yes. Then He told me you two were close. He put his arm around me with the perfect amount of pressure! He said his name was Nate I think which is wei-"what was his name?" Casey said cutting him off. " Nate" Sam repeats._

_Casey skims over the card and then closes it._

_"Yeah Sam sorry but your totally not going to this party"_

_"Yes I am! I am independent now and entitled to make my own choices!" How can she tell him that he can't go. She can't boss him around like this. If anything he can boss her around because he's older._

_Casey looks at him with a more serious expression. "Dude, Nate is not a good guy at all. Plus you don't even like parties!"_

_" you can't tell me what I don't like! I'm sick of you doing this. If I want to go then I'm going! You can't control my life anymore because I'm getting older and like you said I need to think for my self. " Sam says while taking the envelope out of Casey's hand_

_Casey snatched it back with a glare on her face. "You don't know Nate of what he's capable of. He could be plotting to embarrass or even worse hurt you at this party. I'm not going to be there to protect you. If you go to this party something bad will happen and I don't know if I would ever forgive myself if I let that happen." tears are building up in Casey's eyes while she's furiously rubbing them. She wants her brother to be able to go out and make his own choices but she hates Nate with a passion and she knows he hates her with a passion. He was planning something by inviting Sam to his party. She doesn't know what but she knows it isn't good._

_Sam just stands up and walks to the door_

_"It's not your choice" is all he says before he walks out._


	4. Cut my lip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song title- Cut my lip by twenty one pilots

Casey woke up with a blinding light in her eyes. Her head felt like she banged it on a wall a few times. Everything was so bright and the pain wouldn't let her focus on anything. As her eyes adjusted to the lights she looked around and realized this is not her bedroom. She would be lying if she was surprised that she's in the hospital _again._ She brings her hand to her face to check the damage. She flinches as she barely grazes her bandaged nose. " _Okay so that's probably broken,"_ she thinks to herself. As she tried to sit up she someone enter the room. 

"Casey Gardner, your finally awake," A tall broad Guy in a white coat says walking towards her. Casey just grunts and lays back down. She groans in pain as her head hits the hospital bed. She tries to think of what exactly happened last night. everything comes in blurs. All she remembers is punching someone and being beaten the shit out of. Not something she's proud of.

The doctor walks towards her to check all the bandages on her face. He gently unwraps everything one by one. Casey tries her best not to wince but her face betrays her when his hand touches her nose. Her doctor notices and finishes unwrapping her nose trying to not touch it. Casey lets out a relieved sigh when he finishes.

"So yeah your nose is definitely broken," the doctor says while throwing away the bloody bandages. "I'm gonna have to wrap it again but after that, you can go home"

"Just a broken nose?" Casey asks with an eyebrow raised. Her head still feels like shit and she's pretty sure it's not just a hangover.

The doctor looks at her with the same blank expression he's had the whole time. "It could have been worse. A short female with black hair brung you here before your injuries could worsen. She was crying while begging for a nurse to come help you." He explains. "It was kinda weird too. Before I could get her name she was gone in a flash." The doctor grabs his clipboard and starts walking to the door to leave. "I'll go get your bandages so you can be ready to leave. I called your emergency contact to come to pick you up"

As the door closes Casey thinks back to what the doctor said. " _Short female with black hair.....Izzie!"_ Just the thought of her name has scattered memories rushing around in her head. She remembers talking to Izzie and punching Nate. Of course, just when she thought her life was already at its lowest point He shows up again.

Her and Nate surprisingly use to be very close. In fact, they dated for a couple of months. He would drive her to school and they would hang out after school. Casey always saw him as someone who was fun to hang around but something just felt..off. Every time they would kiss she would feel exactly nothing. Like she was only kissing him to make him feel good. She talked to her brother who told her about these gay penguins from Australia. Casey dismissed thinking it was just Sam being his penguin addicting self. Then fast forward to a track competition in California. She was attending a party right before the track meet and was getting lost in the music. A random girl from another track team started dancing right next to her and Casey thinking nothing of it danced with her. The songs got slower and the pretty stranger was starting to dance closer to her. Close enough for skin on skin contact. Casey's mind was all over the place as the girl started to slowly grind on her. Then the realization hit her. She felt more towards a female stranger dancing with her then Nate kissing her. When she made it back from the trip she told Nate everything. 

_"What do you mean you never loved me?" Nate said with a heartbroken expression Casey felt like shit telling him this but she knows she had too._

_Casey grabbed his arm to try and reassure him. "Of course I loved you...just not the way you love me. I don't want to live my life lying to you anymore. I'm sorry Nate but... I'm breaking up with you" Casey says whispering the last part. Tears were streaming down her eyes as she tried to keep composure. She looks over to Nate sitting on the other side of the couch to see how he was reacting. He just stared off in the distance. His heartbroken expression long gone._

_"No"_

_"Nate I'm sorry bu-"I SAID NO" he screams interrupting her. He grabs her wrist and forces her to stand up with him. He pulls her close so that there nose's are almost touching. She looks into his eyes and all she see's is pure anger and she has never felt more scared in her life. she rips her hand back and slaps him with as much force as she can. he reels back and feels his cheek. Casey stands her ground with a glare set on her face. "Don't fucking touch me"_

_He just looks at her and shakes his head. "your gonna regret this" is all he says before leaving._

After that Nate put her through hell every chance he could get. Calling her homophobic slurs in the hallway. Writing cruel things on her locker. She never told because that would lead to coming out to her parents. she was nowhere near ready for that so she just silently consoled her anger.

"So this is why you skipped movie night"

Casey looked to the door and saw Zahid leaning against it with his arms crossed. 

"To be honest getting punched in the face feels better than sitting through your shitty movie selection" Casey retorts with a smirk. Zahid places a hand over his heart mocking offense.

After the incident with sam Zahid and Casey got way closer. He's basically the only person she talks to and can consider close. They decided to move in together because Casey didn't want to be around Elsa anymore and Zahid couldn't live in the apartment without thinking of sam. they spent the first week there eating ramen and crying. They were each other's only source of comfort. After a few month's Casey got to know Zahid more. One, he is deathly afraid of spiders. Casey doesn't waste time making fun of him every time they find one on the kitchen counter or table. Also, he's really into bad chic flics. Casey usually ends up sleeping on the couch because Zahid stays up to like midnight in his room watching them. He always tries to get Casey to watch them but she always falls asleep like halfway through.

Zahid goes over to sit on her hospital bed. "I was gonna let you pick this time," he says looking at her face to see the scars.

"you say that all the time," Casey says while laughing. Zahid joins in and soon there both laughing really loudly.

As they both quiet down Zahid looks over to her with a more serious expression. Casey mentally prepares herself for the question about to be asked

"So what happened?"

Casey sighs and explains everything. Her meeting Izzie to her getting punched in the face. She left out the part that it was Nate hoping he wouldn't ask. He hates him as much as she does and she doesn't him trying to start anything. Casey focus's on Zahid's facial expressions while she's telling him everything and surprisingly his face stays neutral. She expects this long rant on how she overreacted and should have walked away from the situation but after she finishes Zahid just stays silent.

"...okay" is all he says when she's done. 

"What do you mean _ok_ , I just told you ho-" "Well what do you want me to say!" Zahid says interrupting her. She looks at his face and the neutral expression he had is quickly changed to an angry one. Zahid rarely gets angry so this shocked Casey into silence.

"You come home late every day smelling like alcohol and you've been in the hospital like three times this week. I've been working my ass off at my job while you've been at bars getting drunk. Casey do you realize drinking your self to death isn't a healthy way to cope with this. I like you don't even care! If you don't care why should I!" He yells with a frustrated expression.

Casey after getting over her shock yells back. "I didn't want it to end up like this! I'm _trying_ to sober up but you don't know how it feels to have everything taken away from you. Your whole life ripped away from you in one night." Casey says whispering the last part.

"Casey I miss Sam too but you don't see me going to bars and drowning myself in alcohol. You need to find another way to cope and if you won't let me help you then I won't."

When Zahid realizes that Casey isn't going to say anything he grabs his stuff and heads for the door.

"Come home when you have your mind right" is all he says before walking out.

Casey sits in silence staring at the wall trying to process everything. Her only source of support has left and she doesn't know what to do anymore. She starts crying. she doesn't know if the tears are from the pain in her head or the pain in her heart but either way she feels like shit. She hears another knock at the door.

"Go away Zahid" she groans while covering her head with a pillow. instead of Zahid, the doctor walks in with a piece of paper in his hand.

"The girl from yesterday came back and asked me to leave you a note," he says giving it to her before walking back out.

Casey grabs it and reads it quietly to herself.

_"Call me when you get the chance. From bathroom girl/ Izzie, 443-778-9191"_


	6. Update! (not real chapter)

Hey guys! I'm sorry for the really late update on this story but I am indeed still gonna add chapters. just been feeling uninspired with it lately. which is why if anybody in this fandom really likes the plot and wants to take over I'm all for it! I still have Ideas in mind I just don't know how to execute it. So if you have any ideas on what to add you can tell me! so, in summary, this story is still continuing, just needs inspiration. And if anybody really wants to put there own spin on it I'm all for it.


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